Liquid crystals were discovered over 100 years ago by the Austrian botanist Friedrick Reinitzer. They have been an industrially important material for the last 25 years and today the world market for activematrix liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is worth about $750m per year. Liquid crystal R&D has been driven by the display industry as LCDs, unlike cathode ray tubes, are two-dimensional (flat) light-weight devices with low power requirements.